Ronny Deila has challenged his Celtic players to prove they can stand the Champions League heat.

The Scottish champions face a test of nerve before a hostile 30,000 sell-out crowd on the rutted surface of Qarabag FK’s Tofiq Bahramov Stadium on Wednesday night.

Temperatures in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital, have soared to 38 degrees centigrade, dropping only slightly before Deila’s side trained on a wretched, parched surface on Tuesday.

Ronny Deila has refused to blame the pitch ahead of his side's Champions League second leg qualifier in Baku

Celtic had sought assurances earlier in the week over Qarabag FK’s pitch at the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium

The incentive is the Champions League play-off round and a crack at a £16million windfall. Seeking to protect a 1-0 lead from the first leg in Glasgow, Deila insisted he will not use the adverse conditions as an excuse for failure.

Asked about the pitch and temperatures in Baku, the Norwegian said: ‘If we can’t handle that then we don’t have any business in the Champions League. It’s as simple as that.

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Griffiths and Nir Bitton – who sustained an ankle knock at the weekend – have both been passed fit.

Yet team selection will take account of the heat as much as the pitch. Deila will seek permission for water breaks for his players after the temperature at the local kick-off time of 9.30pm (5.30 UK time) continued to hover in the mid-30s.

‘It will affect all the players on the pitch,’ said Deila, ‘not just ours.

‘But we have the experience of playing matches like this. We have to be tactically good and to be very concentrated and disciplined in what we do.’

Hoops captain Scott Brown (centre) knows how important qualification for the Champions League is for Celtic

Dedryck Boyata gave Ronny Deila's side a 1-0 lead to take into the second leg at the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium